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A 22-year-old man was arrested on Sunday for using a false identity and lying about his age to enroll in a Minnesota high school and play on the football team. The principal of the school said the man’s real age was discovered after receiving “reports that an individual enrolled at WBLAHS [White Bear Lake Area High School] was over the age of 21.”
In an email to parents in the school district, Principal Russ Reetz wrote, “Upon our initial investigation, we have determined that while enrolling this individual we followed our enrollment process, which is as rigorous as state law allows. The individual appears to have provided fraudulent documentation and a false identity to enroll. The individual in question is currently in police custody and is not allowed on any district property.”
Imagine being a parent and getting that email. But I digress…
“We are continuing to investigate the situation and are working closely with the White Bear Lake Police Department, which is also conducting an investigation,” Principal Russ Reetz continued. “Please rest assured that the safety and well-being of all students is our top priority. I am grateful to the staff members, families and students who saw something and decided to report it. These reports led to our investigation. We take all concerns seriously, and appropriate steps are taken any time there is a potential threat to student safety.”
The “individual,” Kelvin Luebke, who reportedly went by the nickname “K.J.” while enrolled at the high school and claimed to be a senior, was, according to a student who spoke to Alpha News, a member of the football team.
Parents, politicians not happy
Fox 9 News reports that State Rep. Elliott Engen called for the school district’s Superintendent Dr. Wayne Kazmierczak to resign.
“This breach not only allowed the perpetrator to commit illegal sexual acts against a minor, but also exposed countless students to unnecessary danger, undermining the trust families place in our public education system,” Engen wrote in a letter, adding, “The safety of our students must always come first, and anything less is a betrayal of public trust. Considering these failures, I am calling for your immediate resignation as Superintendent of White Bear Lake Area Schools.”
April Jorgenson, a parent of three children in the district, told Fox 9 News, “There is no explanation for how this man got into our schools. He was allowed in the locker room with the football players. He was allowed in activities with these kids and just so many safeguards were missed.”
This sort of thing has happened before
Earlier this year, a 24-year-old man was arrested for pretending to be a 16-year-old high school student in Perrysburg, Ohio. He ended up being a member of the junior varsity soccer and swim teams at the high school.
In 2018, a 25-year-old man posed as a teenager and enrolled in Hillcrest High School in Dallas and played on the basketball team. It turned out that 17-year-old Rashaun Sidney Robinson was, in fact, a 25-year-old man named Sidney Bouvier Gilstrap-Portley.
One of the wildest stories related to an adult posing as a teenager to play high school sports occurred in 2011. A man posed as a teen at least 13 different high schools in Dallas, Garland and Richardson, Texas using different identities in an attempt to play on the schools’ football teams. He got so far as to practice with at least one of the teams, but never was able to get enrolled. He was between 19 and 22-years-old while he did this.